Material handling system



y 1966 1.. D. BARRY 3,249,064

h MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM Original Filed March 25, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheetl IN VEN TOR.

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May 3, 1966 L. D. BARRY MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2Original Filed March 25, 1960 IN V EN TOR.

May 3, 1966 D. BARRY MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM Original Filed March 25.1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 May 3, 1966 D. BARRY MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMOriginal Filed March 25, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Qw m m %w\ NM 3 m3 93 m 3INVENTOR.

May 3, 1966 L. D. BARRY MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5Original Filed March 25, 1960 RWJ QQQ United States Patent 3,249,064MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM Leonard D. Barry, 19300 Pennington Drive,Detroit, Mich.

Original application Mar. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 17,658, new Patent No.3,154,203, dated Oct. 27, 1964. Divided and this application Oct. 26,1964, Ser. No. 406,608

6 Claims. (Cl. 1414-93) This invention relates to material handlingmethods and apparatus and more particularly to the handling,transportation, and storage of containers such as skid and gondolaboxes, racks, and special containers.

This is a division of my application filed March 25, 1960, Serial No.17,658, now Patent No. 3,154,203, this being a simplification applicableto industry and warehousing or material handling generally.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved means for handlingand storing racks, skid boxes, gondolas, shipping containers, etc. onoverhead carriers. It is a further object to provide simple andinexpensive monorail carriers having means for engaging and holdingcontainers when lifted thereto by a fork truck, portable stacker, orother elevating device preferably without requiring horizontal movementof the load.

Fork trucks are frequently used to unload railway cars and trucks takingtheir loads considerable distances to deposit them in warehouses or workareas. It is an object of this invention to provide a material handlingsystern in which the fork truck and its operator is better utilized.

In present overhead monorail carrier systems for transferring containersa hoist is provided on the carrier for picking up the container. Theoperator who rides with the carrier and operates the hoist to stack andremove containers must look almost directly down on them, limiting thenumber of container carriers that can be loaded by the operator from themonorail cab. Automatic dispatching systems are available for monorailwhich eliminates the necessity of the operator riding in the cab unlessneeded there to operate the hoist. It is therefore an object to providea material handling system which combines the fork lift truck forloading and unloading with a train of inexpensive monorail carriers fortransfer, resulting in faster and less expensive handling of transfercontainers than present methods.

It is an object to provide container carrying monorail trains forloading and unloading with a fork truck rather than have a hoist on eachcarrier. A train of these containers above a loading dock can be loadedby a fork truck unloading a string of freight cars, trucks, or othervehicles at the loading dock for example, thus reducing the distancethat the fork truck is operated to deposit its load and thus maintainingclear dock area by suspending the load on the monorail without firstdepositing it on the dock.

Some other and further objects are to provide means whereby thecontainers can be loaded onto and unloaded from the carriers from theside of the monorail (fork truck at right angles to the monorail), whichis most convenient for the fork truck operator and permits thecontainers to be stacked in a row directly under the monorail train, toprovide a carrier which is inexpensive enough to go into storage withthe load and which can be pulled by a monorail tractor which can bedispatched by available means without requiring the operator to ridewith the train, to provide a carrier which can be adjusted easily tohandle containers of various sizes and types, to provide a carrier trainwhich conserves space, and to provide carriers having collapsiblecouplings to extend for train operation and to bunch the carrierstogether for storage and for bringing the containers close 3,249,964Patented May 3, 1966 together for stacking in or removal from a rowdirectly under the monorail by means such as a fork truck or inexpensiveportable stacker without requiring horizontal movement of the containerlengthwise the monorail.

Other and further objects will be pointed out hereinafter or should beapparent from consideration of this invention as described withreference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a carrier in a monorail carrier trainto which a fork truck is lifting a rack.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a swivel nest.

FIGURE 3 is a broken sectional view on line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of an adjustable sill of a carrier.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the lock arrangement for thesill shown in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation of a carrier for two containers.

FIGURES 7, 8, and 9 are respectively partial top, side, and end views ofan adjustable hook yoke.

FIGURE 10 is a side elevation of a row of racks and skid boxes instorage with a train of the monorail carriers aligned directly above anda portable stacker for lowering and lifting the containers between thecarriers and the row, illustrating how little space is lost betweencontainers.

FIGURE 11 is a view taken on line 1111 of FIG- URE 10.

FIGURE 12 is an oblique top view of an end portion of a carriers sill,showing the coupling latch.

FIGURE 13 is a side elevation of the preferred coupling and portions ofthe end of the sills on coupled carriers.

FIGURE 14 is a view taken on line 14-14 of FIG- URE 13 with couplingomitted and a portion of the yoke.

FIGURE 15 is a section taken on line 1515 of FIG- URE 13 with couplingomitted and a portion of the yoke and wheel cut away.

FIGURES 16 and 17 are respectively the side and end elevations of avariation of the carrier holding a gondola.

FIGURES l8 and 19 are views of the hooks in respectively closed and openpositions to show how the hooks on the containers operate the hooks onthe carriers.

FIGURE 20 is a perspective view of the preferred hook for the rack, box,or tank type of container.

FIGURE 21 is a partial section taken on line 2121 of FIGURE 17.

FIGURES 22 and 23 are respectively side and end elevations of avariation of the carrier and container.

FIGURE 24 is a perspective view of a portion of the end of the containerand supporting hook shown in FIG- URE 23.

FIGURES 25 and 26 are respectively top and side views of a variation ofthe hook operating mechanism shown in open position with a portion cutaway for clarity.

FIGURE 27 is a plan view of a typical installation at a Warehouse orindustry.

Referring to the drawings and in particular to FIG- URE 1, containercarrier 10 has an overhead frame 11 secured to trucks or trolleys 12 ontrack 14. Track 14 is preferably a monorail track, but rope ways orcrane type ways can be used in applications of this invention withoutdeparting from the intended scope thereof. Automatic latching andunlatching books 16 are pivotally secured to frame 11 for engaging andholding the container or rack 18 when lifted thereto by the elevatingdevice here shown as fork lift truck 20.

Frame 11 preferably comprises a longitudinal sill 22 8D in the form ofan I-beam and two hook yokes 24 each transverse to the sill at oppositeends thereof. Each yoke 24 supports two swinging hooks 16, one on eachend. Each yoke has two bars, channels 26, between which hooks 16 areeach pivotally mounted preferably with a sleeve bearing to swing on pin28, FIGURE 3, which is positioned horizontal and parallel to the silland secured from turning and endwise movement to a channel 26 by usualmeans such as tab 30 screwed to the channel and extending into a slot inthe pin.

The corner posts of rack 18 each have a catch or hook 32-for engaging ahook 16 as the container is lifted. Hooks 16 are spaced in frame 11 toalign with hooks 32. Hooks 16 are preferably arranged to swing backtoward the frame so that hooks 32 can be mounted facing each other onthe sides of the posts facing the frame where they do not increase theoverall dimensions of the rack and do not interfere with the sideloading of the rack. By having hooks 16 swing inward rather than endwardthe hooks can be opened even with racks abutting end to end.

Though hook yokes 24 can be integral or secured fast to sill 22 it ispreferred to pivotally secure them to the sill at their mid points topermit the yoke to rock in a plane transverse to the sill so that eachhook will take a share of the load according to the distribution of theload in the container and so that both hooks on the yoke will operatesubstantially together even with considerable vertical variation in thelocation of hooks 32 as would occur, for example when the fork trucktilts the container back in the forks as it lifts it to the hooks.

The hook yokes are preferably of open triangular or trussed constructionfor strength and light weight. Accordingly ties or angles 34 and 36 arerun from channels 26 on respectively the inner and outer sides of thehook yoke up to a pivot pin 38 above sill 22. The outer ties 34 of eachyoke run in a plane transverse to the carrier while the inner ties 36preferably diverge from the outer tie on the same side of the yoke asthey run up to the vertex at pin 38, see FIGURE 3. The two inner trussangles are connected to the two outer angles at the vertex by pin 38 tomake a rigid frame which can take end thrust from the container. Ifdesired to reduce side sway, springs 40 can connect each side of theyoke to the sill.

Trolleys 12 can be secured either to the sill in a usual manner, FIGURE6, or to the hook yoke. One arrangement for securing trolleys 12 to theyoke is shown in FIGURE 3 wherein a thrust bearing nest 42, FIGURE 2,has integral trunnions 44 for mounting between the side plates 46 oftrolley 12. An eye bolt 48 about pin 38 has its thread rod extending upthrough a clearance hole 49 in the bearing nest. A spherical washer 50and preferably a thrust washer 52 are inserted in succession into thenest over the rod of the eye bolt 48, and then a slotted nut 54 isscrewed on and secured by a pin. A sheet metal cover 56, FIGURE 3, snapson over the pocket in the nest to keep dirt and water out. The eye ofbolt 48, which serves as a spacer between angles 34 and 36, has a sleevebearing 58 on which the hook frame swings. The ends of pin 38 extendthrough holes in either clip angles 60 or flats 61 to support the sill.Yokes 24 can be mounted anywhere along the sill on clips 60 according tothe length of the container to be carried.

If the containers to be handled are of various lengths the clips can beadjustably secured to the flanges of the I-beam sill 22 as by bolts, orthe sill can be made adjustable in length as shown in FIGURE 4, whichshows the sill 22 composed of two channels 22c turned back to back witha U-shaped bracket 62 secured to the end of each to grid the other sothat the channels can be telesc-oped. A length of channel 22' is addedto each end to form the I-beam section at the ends which are otherwisesimilar to the yoke shown in FIGURE 1. The two channels are locked inplace by any suitable means such as a toothed rack 63 secured along thebottom of the trough of one channel 220 and a dog 64 having teethengaging the rack, the dog being secured to slide up and down on thebracket 62 secured to the other channel 22c. Dog 64 is secured by a boltthrough slot 65 in the bracket to engage or disengage the rack and ispreferably guided by pin 66 to keep it from turning.

More than one container can be carried on a carrier by providing a sillbeam of suflicient length and adding the required number of hook yokesas shown in FIGURE 6.

The hook yokes can be adjustable for handling containers which havehooks spaced at various widths apart. This adjustment is providedpreferably with the rigid yoke frame retained as shown in FIGURES 7, 8,and 9 wherein channels 26 are turned to face each other to support tworiders 68 each of which support a hook 16 and a hook closing delay 70 tobe described later herein. The riders are shown as two short channels 72turned legs out and spaced by member 74 to slide between the troughs ofchannels 26. Hook 16 is supported between channels 72 of the ridersimilarly as between channels 26, FIG- URE 3. A headed pin 76 is droppedin a hole in the top of channel 72 to secure the hook in the desiredhorizontal position. The riders can be slid out the end of the yoke andturned end for end to hook hooks facing out.

Racks used for handling packages such as found in food warehouses arepreferably provided with removeable chain or link mail sides 78, FIGURE1, to keep the packages from falling off, U-pockets at the tops and bottoms of the facing sides of the side posts support rods 80 on which thechain mail 78 is linked and secured.

The containers on a train of carriers must be spaced apart to turncorners, but where carriers are stored loaded or empty of wherecontainers are stacked it is desirable to space the containers next toeach other to save space. Accordingly as a feature of this invention andwith reference to FIGURES l, 3, and 10-15 the end hook frames are placedon the ends of sill 22 with flats 61 extending down to cover the end ofthe I-beam sill 22 and extending outward from the flanges of the beam.Adjacent carriers 10, see FIGURES 1, 3, l0, and 13, are connected bycoupler bar 84 having a vertical hole in each end. One end of couplingbar 84 is secured to swivel on T bolt 86 swivel mounted between blocks88 secured to the under side of the left hand end of the sill. The otherend of bar 84 is pivotally secured to the bottom of the U-shaped bracket90 of trolley 92 which has at least one wheel 93 or other support meansfor riding each lower flange of the sill beam 22 of the next carrier tothe right. End plate 61 serves as a stop against which U-shaped bracket90bumps to keep trolley 92 from running off the end of the sill. Acoupling latch 94 (see FIGURES l2 and 13) has two triangular side plates96 connected by a shoulder rivet 98 to space the plates 96 to straddleI-beam 22 and is pivotally secured to the I- beam by pin 99 weldedtransversely across the top of beam 22 to position the latch to dropbehind trolley 92 when at the left hand end of sill 22 to lock thecoupling for operation of the carrier train T, FIGURE 10.

When the carriers are to be bunched at the end of their run, thecoupling latches 94 are lifted by rope 100 anchored at 102 to the sillof the last carrier in the train and to drum 104 located either on themonorail tractor MT as shown in FIGURE 10 or on the first carrier if thetractor is used for other service. Rope 100 is run over sheaves 106which support it along the intermediate carriers of the train andthrough the eye of a link 108 welded on the swinging end of eachcoupling latch 94 for opening the latclhes between carriers. Drum 104 iswelded on shaft 110 bearing mounted through plates 112 to the tractor orfirst carrier and turned by hand chain loop 114- draped over sprocket116 which is keyed to shaft 110. When chain 114 is pulled clockwise,FIG- URE 10, reeling the rope 100 onto drum 104, latches 94 are liftedand the carriers are pulled into each other or bunched to form a stringof carriers as shown in a-,249,o ea

FIGURE 10. The racks 18 and boxes 18b can then be stacked in asubstantially solid row without further horizontal movement lengthwisethe carrier. They can be tiered as shown at the left of FIGURE by a forklift truck or by the inexpensive portable stacker 118 which is shownremoving a rack from a carrier.

Rubber bumpers 12!), FIGURES 1, 3, l3, and 14 are provided to reduce theimpact when the carriers are pulled together. It should be evident thatthe containers can be spaced against each other by slight modificationif desired, but leaving a space between the containers prevents scrapingand catching during the lifting and lowering operations.

When the tension on chain 114 is released latches 94 drop by gravity,but the carriers on substantially level track remain bunched. Thecarrier train is opened out and recoupled for operation by running thetractor MT, FIGURE 10, to the right. This pulls the left hand end ofsill 22. of the first carrier to the trolley 92 secured to the couplingbar 84 of the next carrier, etc. The trolleys 92 in passing to the leftof latches 94 lift and latch them as the rope unreels from drum 1124.

Referring to FIGURES 1620, hooks 32 have a back plate 122 for strengthand for mounting to a rack post, a top face 124 curved back and up fromthe face of the hooks tooth 126 for engaging and opening hooks 16, and aside plate 128 for keying racks 18 from slipping oil hooks 16 or formounting to a box, FIGURE 17. The side plate 128 extends beyond thefront of tooth 126 to guide upper hooks 16 past the tooth to engagethereunder. The side plate can be omitted where the hook is secured tothe side of a box or structural member. With the side plate 128 madeintegral the hooks are cast or forged right and left hand.

Referring to FIGURES 16-19, hooks 16 have a long neck 130 which dependsfrom the frame of the carrier to an up and transversely outward turnedtooth 132 which has a backward and downward sweeping front face forengaging with hooks 32. The side of hook 16 which engages with hook 32or the container sweeps endward from the container to longitudinallyalign the container for coupling. With hooks 16 turned outward to engagewith hooks 32 turned inward (facing each other) no space between racksand a minimum of space between boxes is required for hooks and for theswinging of hooks. The head 124 of hook 16, through which pin 28 runs,is long in the direction of the hole to take endwise torque resultingfrom acceleration and deceleration of the container. This designprevents endwise bumping of the containers into each other even whenclosely spaced on the hooks. The neck 130 of hook 16 extends from thehead away from the side next to the container forming a chin 136 whichoffsets the hook to permit closer spacing of the containers.

A protrusion or preferably a wheel or roller 138 on the front of theneck of book 16 is spaced to engage the top face of hook 32 to open hook116 when the container is lifted by the fork truck a distance above hookengaging position. The book 16 is then held open by a delayed returndevice 70 which is shown in FIGURES l8 and 19 as a special dashpotpivotally mounted between yoke 24 and lug 140 on the back of hook 16.Dashpot 71 has free travel during the first portion of its stroke toengage hooks quickly but delays the return of the hook when opened untilthe lift operator can lower the container below the hooks. A passagesuch as groove 142 on the inner face of and lengthwise the cylinder ofdashpot 70 near the rod end thereof allows air to pass freely betweenthe head and rod ends during the first portion of the stroke of thedashport. A check valve 144 connected to the head end of the dashpotexhausts air as the dashpot is compressed but closes to hold the hooklifted until air is bled in past the plunger or through an orifice inthe cylinder. Gravity or a spring is relied on to return hook 16. Thespring can be a compression spring in the head end of the cylinder ofthe dashpot.

G Only vertical movement of the lift is required to hook or remove thecontainer. The fork truck can therefore load and unload my carrier fromany angle.

Where telescoping of the coupling is not desired, any suitable couplingcan be provided on the ends of sill 22, which is shown as a squaretubing in FIGURES 16 and 17 with a horizontal hook eye 146 secured toone end and a three-eye clevis 147 vertically secured to the other end,the pin of the clevis having a hook 148 at its bottom for pulling itdown to open it and a compression spring 149 on and connected to the pinand resting on top of the lower eye of the clevis to close the pin.

Instead of running angles 34 and 36 up to a pin 38 at the vertex of thehook frame they can be connected by a fiat piece or (as shown in FIGURES16, 17 and 21) 'by channel 150 which spaces and supports angles 34 and36 at the vertex. The trolley 12 is connected to this hook yoke byeyebolt 151 whose eye is pinned between the side plates of the trolleyand whose rod extends down in succession through a hole in channel 150at the top of the yoke, a spherical washer 152, and a nut 153 threadedon the eye bolt to support the yoke. The legs of channel 150 runtransverse to sill 22, extend down, and are pivotally connected to thesill on an axis parallel thereto by clip angles 61).

Where the loaded carrier must travel a steep grade the carrier can besupported on a single trolley at the middle of beam 22, or, as shown inFIGURES 22 and 23, the hook yoke can span the container to hook oppositeends. This carrier has a yoke 24c comprising two channels 260 spacedapart between which hooks 160 are pivoted. Each channel 260 has the endsof a bent tie rod 160 welded thereto. The rods 160, which replace angles34 and 36 for light construction, run up and over the load pin 162 oftrolley 12 and are spaced apart and welded to pin 162 which turns on theside plates of trolley 12.

The container has two hooks 32c symmetrical on t the center line of eachend near the top. Hook 32c are fabricated of round rod 164 to form aninverted U flairing out from the end of the container along the top, asshown in FIGURES 22-23, to hook over the sides of hooks to prevent thecontainer from slipping sidewise off books 166. Hooks 32c taper inwardtoward the top to guide hooks 16c into engagement therewith. Hooks 32chave a bar or flat 166 sloping down from the end of the container to thetop of rod 164 so that rollers 138 engage this flat to open hooks 160when the container is lifted up from the carrier.

Instead of fiat 166 a formed channel or chute 168, as shown in FIGURE24, can guide hooks 160 into engagemerit. The tail of hook 16c comes toa point in the middle to increase the coupling range when used withchute 168.

So that the container can be removed conveniently from hooks 16c closingdelay again can be provided by dashpot 741 now pivotally secured betweenchannels 26c and arm 170 integral with and extending up from hook 16c asshown on the right hand side of FIGURE 22, or a mechanical type delaycan be provided such as that shown on the left side of FIGURE 22 whereinlever 172 carrying wheel 174 engages the top of the container 18c beforeit is lifted high enough to engage hooks 16c and 320. Lever 172 has afinger 176 which extends out under a latch bar 178 pivotally secured tolever 170 on hook 16c in place of the dashpot 7i Latch bar 178 has acatch 180 which latches over finger 176 only when hook 16c is opened,ie. when plate 166 pushes roller 138 out, swinging hook 16c up andpushing latch bar 173 to the right far enough to catch over finger 176.When bar 178 latches over finger 176 the container can be lowered withhook 160 remaining lifted until after bar 178 hits stop 182 and lever172 drops finger 176 out from catch 1811 when the container is below thehooking points of books 16: and 32c. Hook 16c then swings to verticalposition under the force of gravity ready to hook the next container.

This hook latching arrangement is shown in the hook 7 yoke assembly,FIGURES 25 and 26, with like items given the same reference charactersas in the other figures. In this assembly the hooks 16c face outward andengage hooks 32 which can be mounted to corner posts as in FIGURE 1 orto a side of a box or other container as in FIGURE 17 for example.

A typical application of the carrier is shown in FIG- URE 27 wherein Drepresents a loading dock; V, a transportation vehicle such as a railwaybox car or a truck in which containers 18 are shipped; M, a monorailsystem having an overhead track parallel the dock on which a train ofcarriers T is spotted for loading and unloading; 20 the fork lift truckfor unloading the transportation vehicle and for lifting the containersto engage the waiting carriers and for removing containers from themonorail and placing them aboard the transportation vehicle; MT themonorail tractor for pulling the train of carriers between the dock andwarehouse or storage area SA which might be very remote from the dockand on a different elevation; 118 the portable stacker or fork truckwhich removes containers from the monorail. and stacks them one abovethe other as shown in FIGURE or lifts them to load the carrier trainwithout necessity of horizontally moving them.

In operation the fork truck operator on the dock runs fork truck 20inside box car V, picks up a container on the forks, 'backs out undermonorail M lifts the container engaging it on a waiting carrier, lowersthe forks and drives under the carrier back into the car to pick upanother container. In the mean time the carrier train is preferablyindex to align the next carrier adjacent the car door so when the forktruck operator backs out of car V the next empty carrier is Waitingabove for him to lift the container to it. Thus it should be evidentthat this system saves the fork truck operator from carrying each loadinto the warehouse, saves dock space as compared to a tractor trailertrain, and enables the fork truck operator to transfer containersbetween the car and monorail with a minimum of turning and movement.

When the car is unloaded or the carrier full it is taken to thewarehouse or storage area SA and bunched over a storage row where theportable stacker picks up the containers on the carriers and therebyopens their hooks and then lowers them to stack them directly thereunderto await call for the item stored; at which time the stacker is used toload the container back on the carrier for delivery to shipping,processing, or manufacture where similar or other facilities can handlethecontainer.

Stop 188 on the monorail, FIGURE 10, can be set to align the carriertrain at the stacking area. The stop is a dog pivotally secured to theupper flange of the monorail to swing down to engage a trolley 12. Itcan be worked by a pole or preferably by solenoid and maintains bothraised and lowered positions by gravity. It is also useful in bunching atrain of carriers with the aid of the tractor.

Having thus described a few of the many possible variations andapplications of this invention it should be understood that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim as my invention:

1. A carrier for operation in a monorail train comprising a sill, twoswivel trucks secured to support opposite ends of said sill for movementon a suspended railway, substantially triangular hook yokes transverselysecured to said sill with the apex above and base below, self engaginghooks positioned each for suspending a corner of a container and securedto the ends of said yokes, said hooks being of a latching type engagedby lifting the container thereto and disengaged when the container islifted therefrom.

2. An overhead carrier for containers comprising in combination, aframe, wheel means secured to said frame to support said frame, saidframe comprising a sill, and triangular hook yokes transverse to saidsill and secured below the apex thereto so as to have limited rockingthereon, hooks pivotally secured to the ends of said yoke to swingparallel thereto and oppositely faced and extending down therefrom forengaging a container.

3. Two yoke assemblies for holding a container and each comprising atruss of substantially triangular design, horizontally fiat structuralmeans at the center of the top of said truss connecting the sidesthereof, a monorail trolley, an eyebolt pinned between the side platesof the trolley, a clearance hole in the top of said truss through whichsaid eyebolt extends, a spherical washer and a nut on the rod end ofsaid eyebolt, said spherical washer supporting said truss on said nut,and a hook pivotally secured at each end of each said truss to latch ona container, and a sill spacing said yokes, the apex of said trussesbeing pinned to rock transversely on top of said sill.

4. An adjustable sill for a carrier comprising, two channels back toback, a bracket connecting an end of each to the other securing eachchannel to slide on the other, a toothed rack secured along the bottomof the trough of one channel, a toothed dog for vertically engaging saidrack, said dog being secured to slide up and down on the bracket securedto the other channel to engage and disengage said rack to lock saidchannels together when said dog is down, and means for pivotallysupporting hook yokes to the opposite ends of the channels.

5. An adjustable sill comprising in combination, two horizontal members,a bracket connecting an end of each to the other securing each member toslide on the other, at least one said member having a depressionlengthwise thereof along a side, a toothed rack secured along the bottomof said depression with teeth faced downward, a toothed dog forvertically engaging said rack, said dog being secured to slide up anddown on the said bracket secured to the other said member to engage anddisengage said rack with meshing and slidingmovement to lock saidmembers together when said dog slides down along said rack.

6. An overheard monorail carrier for suspending four post racks andrectangular containers for loading and unloading with'a fork truck andcomprising in combination, a sill, two monorail trolleys supporting saidsill, a plurality of hook yokes transverse to said sill, said yokes eachbeing of isosceles triangular form with the vertex between the equallegs pivotally secured on top of the sill to rock in planes transverseto the sill.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 624,077 5/ 1899Patriarche 2948l 1,443,382 1/ 1923 Rapier 10498 2,156,827 5/1939 Wehr104-111 2,603,523 7/1952 Cameron 2948l X 2,965,408 12/ 1960 Edwards29481 3,154,203 10/1964 Barry.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

MILTON BUCHLER, Examiner.

F. W. MONAGHAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. A CARRIER FOR OPERATION IN A MONORAIL TRAIN COMPRISING A SILL, TWOSWIVEL TRUCKS SECURED TO SUPPORT OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID SILL FOR MOEMENTON A SUSPENDED RAILWAY, SUBSTANTIALLY TRIANGLUAR HOOK YOKES TRANSVERSELYSECURED TO SAID SILL WITH THE APEX ABOVE AND BASE BELOW, SELF ENGAGINGHOOKS POSITIONED EACH FOR SUSPENDING A CORNER OF A CONTAINER AND SECUREDTO THE ENDS OF SAID YOKES, SAID HOOKS BEING OF A LATCHING TYPE ENGAGEDBY LIFTING THE CONTAINER THERETO AND DISENGAGED WHEN THE CONTAINER ISLIFTED THEREFROM.